Happy Easter everybody. I always thought Easter was a much nicer holiday and a better time of the year than Christmas, which in many ways I find tacky and somewhat depressing.
However last nite I saw "The Passion" movie, and I was expecting as much bloodshed as the papers already reported, but I wasn't very impressed, in general, by the rest of the movie. The only actors that are definitely realistic are Jim Caviezel as Jesus (I knew that: I was keeping an eye on him since The Count of Montecristo a couple of years ago and I knew he would be fitting the role), and the balcanic guy who does Pilatus (can't remember the full name, but, funnily enough, his first name was Hristo, a slavic version of "Christ"). The woman playing Mary, Monica Bellucci playing the Magdalene, the guy playing James and the disciples are too little concerned, in my opinion, as they'd be in real life. Mary is truly absent-minded, and James is as alive as a pole.
The jewish priests are allright, as is most of the crowd and roman soldiers, but while the spoken aramaic is somehow unconvincing (even Jesus has a terrible american accent), the spoken Latin is decidedly crippled, broken and fake. This I noticed by the assonance with normal Italian.
The movie is basically made in Italy with a mixed crew: American production and Italian workers and extras. That gives it a less-than-Holywood edge, which is good, and the direction by Mr. Gibson is sometimes very inventive (as only a freshman would do) and sometimes stiff.
A final thought is that, although the movie decidedly is rife with pathos (I shed a couple tears, I must admit, as did my wife), the SPIRITUAL side is not nearly as strong.
Which leaves you, at the end of the movie, with a sense of unfulfillment.
How the hell happened that such a bad actor and a tacky character as mr. Gibson has always been managed to pull such a punch in the face to the world of movies? Even the fact that the movie is spoken in unknown languages with subtitles was a mega-challenge to the industry, expecially in the US, and yet its impact was as big as the last Lord of the Rings! Amazing.
However last nite I saw "The Passion" movie, and I was expecting as much bloodshed as the papers already reported, but I wasn't very impressed, in general, by the rest of the movie. The only actors that are definitely realistic are Jim Caviezel as Jesus (I knew that: I was keeping an eye on him since The Count of Montecristo a couple of years ago and I knew he would be fitting the role), and the balcanic guy who does Pilatus (can't remember the full name, but, funnily enough, his first name was Hristo, a slavic version of "Christ"). The woman playing Mary, Monica Bellucci playing the Magdalene, the guy playing James and the disciples are too little concerned, in my opinion, as they'd be in real life. Mary is truly absent-minded, and James is as alive as a pole.
The jewish priests are allright, as is most of the crowd and roman soldiers, but while the spoken aramaic is somehow unconvincing (even Jesus has a terrible american accent), the spoken Latin is decidedly crippled, broken and fake. This I noticed by the assonance with normal Italian.
The movie is basically made in Italy with a mixed crew: American production and Italian workers and extras. That gives it a less-than-Holywood edge, which is good, and the direction by Mr. Gibson is sometimes very inventive (as only a freshman would do) and sometimes stiff.
A final thought is that, although the movie decidedly is rife with pathos (I shed a couple tears, I must admit, as did my wife), the SPIRITUAL side is not nearly as strong.
Which leaves you, at the end of the movie, with a sense of unfulfillment.
How the hell happened that such a bad actor and a tacky character as mr. Gibson has always been managed to pull such a punch in the face to the world of movies? Even the fact that the movie is spoken in unknown languages with subtitles was a mega-challenge to the industry, expecially in the US, and yet its impact was as big as the last Lord of the Rings! Amazing.
